The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference

Hacking, Ian

ISBN 10: 0521204607 / ISBN 13: 9780521204606

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1975

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Emergence of Probability: A Philosophical Study of Early Ideas about Probability, Induction and Statistical Inference
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1975
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521204607
• ISBN 13: 9780521204606
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Historical records show that there was no real concept of probability in Europe before the mid-seventeenth century although the use of dice and other randomizing objects was commonplace. Ian Hacking here presents a philosophical critique of early ideas about probability, induction and statistical inference and the growth of this new family of ideas in the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The contemporary debate centres round such figures as Pascal, Leibniz and Jacques Bernoulli. What brought about the change in ideas? The author invokes in his explanation a wider intellectual framework involving the growth of science, economics and the theology of the period.

Book Description

A philosophical study of the early ideas about probability, induction and statistical inference, covering the period 1650-1705.